Thank you, Presiding Officer. I welcome this opportunity to update Members on the progress made to date in Wales on tackling hate crime and the current challenges.

I remind Members that I published an annual update in 2016-17 and a delivery plan in July that highlights the cross-Government action.

I’d like to turn to the amendment at this point. I am happy for Members to note the all-Wales hate crime research project. This debate today will demonstrate how we have used the key recommendations from this report and other related research to raise awareness of hate crime, and increase the confidence of victims and witnesses to report hate crime. This is true, for example, in relation to restorative approaches for hate crime perpetrators. While criminal justice remains a non-devolved issue, Victim Support Cymru, who manage our hate crime report and support centre, are currently working with the Wales Community Rehabilitation Company to create a hate crime restorative justice and education programme for hate crime offenders. I therefore support the amendment laid today.

This week is Hate Crime Awareness Week. It is a key time for our third sector partners and the four police forces. I have again made funding available to the four police and crime commissioners to support activities during the week, with a focus on increasing awareness and community engagement across Wales.

In 2014, we launched ‘Tackling Hate Crimes and Incidents: A Framework for Action’, which sets out this Government’s commitment to change hostility and prejudice across all the protected characteristics. Our framework includes objectives on prevention, support and improving the multi-agency response. I published an updated delivery plan, as I said, in July. Since 2014, we have provided funding to Victim Support Cymru to operate the national hate crime report and support centre, and I’ve recently agreed to fund a national reporting centre for a further three years. This service, which is currently out to tender, is critical to provide independent advocacy and support for victims.

We also continue to work closely with a range of criminal justice agencies through the hate crime criminal justice board, and our independent advisory group, which helps to monitor the progress from the grass-roots level.

So, what progress have we made? We have seen a 20 per cent increase in hate crime reporting in 2015-16 and this can in large part be attributed to better awareness, confidence amongst victims and more accurate recording. However, we know that up to 50 per cent of victims are still not reporting, so there is much more to be done to assure victims that it is both important and worthwhile to report what they have suffered.

We have made huge strides and we can be immensely proud that Wales is leading the way, but there is no room for complacency. We cannot ignore that part of the reported increase reflects a real spike in hate crimes following the EU referendum, nor the reality that some groups in our communities are more fearful following that vote. There are significant challenges ahead to reassure the majority and confront the few who want to incite hatred. We are ready for those challenges. The national reporting centre has delivered hate crime training to front-line key staff and community partners. In total 2,390 people have benefitted from this training.

We must listen to the concerns that communities have voiced following the referendum and we must also be very clear indeed that the vote has not—and will not—legitimised hatred or abuse toward ethnic minority people and non-British nationals. Many people have said that they have lived in Wales for a generation but have experienced hate for the first time in the past few months; this will not be tolerated. I have spoken to the police and crime commissioners to ensure everything possible is being done to monitor and support the situation and the victims.

As Assembly Members, we work with and listen to a wide range of people across our communities and constituencies. It’s important that we all reinforce the importance of reporting. This, of course, applies to hate crime based on a range of characteristics, including disability. Despite all the progress that’s been made, for example around the Paralympics, disabled people continue to be stigmatised and to experience abuse and hate. Whilst we’ve seen progress, including an increase in reporting, we must continue to strengthen and link with the disability organisations and communities across Wales.

Similarly, we need to be aware and maintain a clear focus on hate crime against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. In fact, across Wales, sexual orientation hate crime was the second most commonly recorded hate crime. We will continue to tackle all forms of homophobia in our schools, in the workplace and in our communities. In Wales, transgender hate crimes had the lowest levels of reporting during 2015 and 2016, and we are committed to addressing this through our transgender action plan and will continue to work with partners across Wales.

It is clear that education plays a vital role in addressing hate. Children and young people need an inclusive learning environment that values diversity, builds tolerance and understanding. When incidents happen, schools need to be clear about their arrangements to challenge unacceptable words and behaviour, including racism, and support the children involved. The Welsh Government has been working with Show Racism the Red Card since 2013 in developing resources to support schools and practitioners in tackling racism in the education sector. We’ve approved further work that will help equip and empower our teachers with the confidence to tackle racism and discrimination in our classrooms.

Social media plays a significant role in most of our lives, and in this area there are significant challenges we all have the responsibility to face. We can see every day how the media and social networks affect our views on the world. Responses to the recent world events have led to an increase in the number of people airing racist and religious intolerance online. This is totally unacceptable and we will continue to look at new and innovative ways to tackle it. This week we’re publishing guides on online hate crime aimed at practitioners, the public and young people.

I look forward to the comments made by Members today on this very important day marking hate crime week.